Summary of Work: This year, two publications from the BLSA program in pulmonary aging appeared. The first dealt with age changes in maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP). After subjecting BLSA subjects to rigorous health screening, we analyzed a well defined healthy subgroup with a wide age range (20-90 yrs) for the purpose of defining the effect of age, other correlates, normal values, and the gender specific reference equations for MIP. The gender effect was strong, with the average MIP values of the men being about 30 % higher than those of the women (101 cm H-2-O and 72 cm H-2-O, respectively ). The reference equation for men is: MIP = 126 - 1.028 x age + 0.343 x weight (kg); and for women: MIP = 171- 0.694 x age + 0.861 x weight (kg) - 0.743 x height (cm). These equations may be used for the assessment of inspiratory muscle strength.(Harik-Khan R, Wise RA, Fozard JL. Determinants of maximal inspiratory pressure: The Baltimore Longitudinal study of Aging. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1998; 158:1459-1464). The second manuscript examined the effect of parity on pulmonary function in BLSA women. After controlling for age, height, weight and smoking, parity as a dichotomous variable was associated with relatively higher forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV-1)in women of childbearing age (p=0.02) but not in the older women. There was a weaker link with the number of children (p=0.05), with the first child possibly having the greatest effect ( Harik-Khan R, Wise RA, Lou C, Morrell CH, Brant LJ, Fozard JL. The effect of gestational parity on FEV-1 in a group of healthy volunteer women. Respir Med 1999; 93: 382-388).We completed a study that explored the effect of body fat distribution, as measured by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), on pulmonary function. Multiple spirometric and anthropometric measurements from 585 men and 282 women in the BLSA were combined to examine the effect of WHR on FEV-1. At baseline, the well characterized participants in this study group were free of pulmonary and coronary heart disease, had a wide age range (18 to 92 yr), and an average follow-up time of 10.6 yr plus or minus 7.3 (SD). Cross sectional and longitudinal analyses, after accounting for body mass index (BMI) and other variables, showed a strong gender difference in the way WHR affects FEV-1. Increases in WHR were inversely correlated with FEV-1 in men but not in women. Moreover, faster FEV-1 decline was associated with greater rates of WHR increase in younger men (less than 50 yr), but with higher rates of BMI increase in older men (greater than or equal to 50 yr). In women, neither the rates of change of WHR or BMI affected FEV-1 decline. Thus, the independent effect of body fat distribution on FEV-1 is evident only in men, and decreases with age. A manuscript has been submitted for publication (Harik-Khan R, Wise RA, Fleg JL. Body fat distribution and FEV-1 in healthy volunteers: Effect of gender and age.) The effects of education and socioeconomic status (SES) on pulmonary function are being studied in BLSA subjects. Preliminary results in 722 healthy BLSA men, and 433 healthy BLSA women show that years of education were a significant predictor of FEV-1 in women, even after accounting for age, height, weight, race and smoking. This was not the case for men; male subjects with the lowest education had FEV-1 levels that were only marginally lower than those with the highest education. The interactions of race with education and socioeconomic status on pulmonary function is being investigated. - Human Subjects